In a year when the Rams’ special teams unit performed as one of the worst in the NFL, Johnny Hekker had his own share of struggles in 2020. Particularly in the second half of the season, Hekker wasn’t hitting the booming punts fans have gotten so used to seeing.
He averaged a career-low 45.6 yards per punt, a career-low 39.7 net yards and had a punt blocked for just the third time. He did pin 28 of his 68 punts inside the 20, but Hekker wasn’t his usual self.
That doesn’t necessarily concern new Rams special teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, however. He still views Hekker as one of the best punters in the league, if not the top guy at his position.
“I still think he’s, if not the top punter in the league, he’s one of the top punters in the league,” DeCamillis told reporters in his first press conference. “Sometimes, you just get in situations where you may be in different parts of the field where you’re not able to drive the ball as far as you did in certain other years. So, that’s part of it. We’re going through all those stats and all the all those metrics right now, trying to figure it out. But, I think he’s a great punter and hopefully next year he has a better year. That’s my hope. That’s what our goal is.”
In addition to his punting numbers lagging, Hekker also went the entire year without attempting a single pass – the first time in his career that’s happened. DeCamillis said earlier in the week that he’ll be campaigning with Hekker for more fake punts, and during his introductory press conference Thursday, he clarified that those opportunities don’t always come up.
It’s obvious that DeCamillis wants to keep opponents on their toes and one way to do that is by calling fakes every now and then.
“It depends on the situation. I think it depends on what the head coach’s plan is, what your team plan is,” he said. “You want to play complementary football as much as possible. Sometimes, they come up. Sometimes they don’t. In Jacksonville, we were very successful the last few years doing that and I know having the talent that John (Fassel) has, I hope we’re able to continue the ‘trickeration.’ That’s what I hope happens. So, we’ll see what happens.”
The Rams need to be better in every phase of special teams, including punting. Hekker knows that, and so does DeCamillis. It’s just a matter of pinning teams deep and bailing out the offense when it fails to move the ball.